Tammy Cecchini

Head Coach

Tammy Cecchini was promoted to head women's tennis coach in October 2015, marking her first head coaching position.

Cecchini's impact was seen right away when she signed two four-star recruits for the 2017-18 season, the first pair of four-star recruits in program history.

The Crusaders showed progress during the 2016-2017 campaign. They played their best tennis of the year over the final five matches, beating Green Bay 4-3 before scoring at least two team points in each of the last four matches. Under Cecchini's direction, Paige Heuer finished with 41 career doubles wins, eighth in program history, and doubles partner Kathleen Hebble finished with 32 doubles triumphs, 10th in program history. Freshman Dao Sysouvanh showed improvement late in the year, winning her last four Horizon League matches of the season. Cecchini also oversaw the emergence of sophomore Randi Wind, who finished the season with 11 singles wins, the most of any Crusader in the last decade.

The Crusaders also excelled in the classroom under Cecchini in 2016-2017, posting a 3.71 team GPA, the best of any Valpo team in any sport. Kathleen Hebble earned a place on the academic all-league team in 2017 before graduating in three years with a degree in biology.

Cecchini spent the 2014-2015 season as an assistant coach at Valpo after serving the previous two seasons in the same capacity at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. The Mountain Hawks won 12 matches in her time there.

During her collegiate years, Cecchini was a standout at Penn State. As a Nittany Lion, she played No. 1 singles and was on the No. 1 doubles team for multiple seasons. She was named Freshman of the Year in the Atlantic-10 before serving as team captain in 1993 and 1994.

Cecchini is a native of Bloomington, Minn. She earned her bachelor's degree from Penn State in 1995 and obtained her MBA from Lehigh in 2002.

Cecchini and her husband, Dave, the head coach of the Valparaiso football team, have two sons, Evan and Will.